Bokaro, Oct. 13: When Chandan Kumar (7) insisted on visiting a puja pandal on October 11, his mother asked Mahesh ? their servant for two years ? to take the boy, not knowing that she would receive a ransom demand soon.

A resident of Sector I of Bokaro steel city, Chandan, son of Hari Shankar Sao, a wholesale businessman of grain and vegetables, was kidnapped by three of their employees and they have demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh.

The kidnapper trio of Lalan Kumar Singh, Mahesh Kumar Yadav and Anil Prasad Singh hails from Bihar and has already called the trader with their demands. But they are yet to inform him of the meeting point to exchange the boy and money.

The trio was not traceable after the boy?s disappearance, thus raising suspicion on them.

It has now come to light that one of the servants, Anil Kumar, has a criminal record, said sources. Kumar had called Sao yesterday and demanded the ransom.

Bokaro superintendent of police Manvinder Singh Bhatia has constituted three teams and sent them to Bihar, Dhanbad and another undisclosed destination to locate the boy and the kidnappers. Bhatia said he was hopeful that the child would be recovered soon as they have got some vital clues.

A police inspector said that after the abduction, one of the kidnappers went to Katras (Dhanbad) and borrowed some money from his cousin, whose identity the police have not disclosed. The police today interrogated the cousin, who said he was not aware of the kidnapping.